multi main poly X recc for a friend

stapletonj

Hall of Fame
Hey all, seeking the wisdom of the board for this one. My friend ( age 61 - 6'7" and 270 lbs.) is also a college hockey ref./club player. He plays doubles only.

He has traditionally played with a Babolat Aero 98 string with full bed Hyper-g thin gauge strung at 57 lbs both ways.

He is NOT a string breaker, so he often plays till they snap, which can be months...

He is having some shoulder pain now and wants me to set him up with some multi in the mains/poly in the crosses.

For myself, I string a little lower when I play poly (53 lbs.), but I bump multi to 57 lbs. for myself.

Should I leave the mains at 57 or go up a couple of pounds for him?
 

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
Velocity 1.30 natural at 57# for mains and POSG 16/OGSM 16 crosses at 57#. OR both at 55#.

PPC 15L mains if available.

Adjust tension on second string job.
 

thenewbig3

Rookie
For myself, I string a little lower when I play poly (53 lbs.), but I bump multi to 57 lbs. for myself.

Should I leave the mains at 57 or go up a couple of pounds for him?

You said HyperG was thin so I assume 18g
My rule is 16g multi tension = 18g hyper-g type poly tension
If 16g multi vs 17g poly +2lbs
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
He can string lower tension and cut out the poly before he starts feeling pain. There is no rule that he has to restring only after the strings break. Many players including me feel that HyperG goes dead within 15-20 hours of playing time and it is common to experience discomfort/pain of shoulder/arm/elbow/wrist if you keep playing.
 

stapletonj

Hall of Fame
socallefty - you are 100% right and that's what I told him, but you know how we guys are! I told him to just rub some dirt on his shoulder and he'd be fine....
 

Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
socallefty - you are 100% right and that's what I told him, but you know how we guys are! I told him to just rub some dirt on his shoulder and he'd be fine....
May be the start of a rotator cuff tear and dirt won’t help. LOL If it was me I’d suggest Velocity MLT mains at 57# with Ghost Wire crosses at 54#.

EDIT: If the strings don’t help his shoulder he may want to try this https://amzn.to/4fWvWAd. Works with both applying cold or heat therapy.
 
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Irvin

Talk Tennis Guru
Changing to a different poly string might help if he does not like multi / poly strings. Shoulder exercises for rotator cuff may help and are easy to find with a Google search.
 

pjv

Rookie
I used to play with fully poly and for a while thin hyper-g was my thing.

I'm now playing with technifibre multifeel black 17 gauge in the mains and either MSV swift 17 or tru pro ghostwire 17 in the crosses. both mains and crosses strung at 50 lbs.

The reason I switched away from the poly was for comfort and feel. The reason I landed on the MF black in the mains after experimenting with a lot of synguts and multis is because it has the comfort of a multi but otherwise plays a lot like poly to me; importantly including not getting stuck out of place (as long as it is crossed with a soft round poly like swift or ghostwire) like many multis will.

I'm also not a string breaker - at least not with poly strings. But one good thing about the MF is that even if you are not a string breaker, it WILL break after a while (for me between 14 - 18 hours of play usually) and force you to get some fresh strings on the racket before it goes totally dead and you end up hurting yourself trying to make something happen with your arm.
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
Hey all, seeking the wisdom of the board for this one. My friend ( age 61 - 6'7" and 270 lbs.) is also a college hockey ref./club player. He plays doubles only.

He has traditionally played with a Babolat Aero 98 string with full bed Hyper-g thin gauge strung at 57 lbs both ways.

He is NOT a string breaker, so he often plays till they snap, which can be months...

He is having some shoulder pain now and wants me to set him up with some multi in the mains/poly in the crosses.

For myself, I string a little lower when I play poly (53 lbs.), but I bump multi to 57 lbs. for myself.

Should I leave the mains at 57 or go up a couple of pounds for him?
I'm not a fan of making subtle string changes to get greater comfort.

Dump the poly completely for now.

Our pal @esgee48 in post #4 recommended 15L Prince Premier Control. Great call it you need a multi that will give you both more comfort than poly along with some decent service life. I've used that string both in 16 and 15L gauges to help several local sluggers through recent years.

I'm also a big advocate of softer syn. guts. Some are nearly as soft as some multis and those syn. guts usually also offer better performance than the multis at a much more reasonable price. I string at home and I use syn. gut in my own racquets all the time (Kirschbaum is my favorite!!).
 

ChrisJR3264

Hall of Fame
Don’t be shy to try synthetic gut either. Gosen sheep is very good in a hybrid. You can probably go with the Syn gut in mains and poly cross of vise versa.

If you’re going to do a multi hybrid - highly suggest you cross the multi. You’ll hold tension better.
 

Happi

Hall of Fame
I'm not a fan of making subtle string changes to get greater comfort.

Dump the poly completely for now.

Our pal @esgee48 in post #4 recommended 15L Prince Premier Control. Great call it you need a multi that will give you both more comfort than poly along with some decent service life. I've used that string both in 16 and 15L gauges to help several local sluggers through recent years.

I'm also a big advocate of softer syn. guts. Some are nearly as soft as some multis and those syn. guts usually also offer better performance than the multis at a much more reasonable price. I string at home and I use syn. gut in my own racquets all the time (Kirschbaum is my favorite!!).
To me when using a syn gut like Kirschbaum, strings move all over the place within the first 30 min. How do you prevent that ? Is that a problem for you and the players you string for ?

I have been thinking of Kirschbaum syn gut mains with TF Multifeel black as cross, that could perhaps solve the string movement. Really like the feel of K syn gut, but cant stand the string movement. Any suggestions are welcome.
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
To me when using a syn gut like Kirschbaum, strings move all over the place within the first 30 min. How do you prevent that ? Is that a problem for you and the players you string for ?

I have been thinking of Kirschbaum syn gut mains with TF Multifeel black as cross, that could perhaps solve the string movement. Really like the feel of K syn gut, but cant stand the string movement. Any suggestions are welcome.

Really big hitters will displace this string rather quickly, but a few high school players who like it are usually okay with a little extra tension to keep their strings from getting stuck out of place too much. I suppose that's the trade off with a softer option like this.

I haven't experimented with other soft strings in the crosses to find something that doesn't get so disorganized at moderate tension, but if I did, my first try would probably be Gosen OGSM at lower tension. That string has been really good as a slippery cross string in a basic poly hybrid when I set that up for one or another local who wants it. Unfortunately though, that OGSM is significantly more stiff that many SG's.

Some strings also seem to not want to slide across each other so well in a combo, but this is rather tough to predict. That's where the need for trial and error comes along. I'm looking at trying a combo of Prince Premier Control 17 mains and OGSM 17 crosses in a dense 18x20 Dunlop CX 200 Tour just to see how those behave together (might also try that in a 98" Volkl that has a 16x19 pattern). Knowledge is power... or so I'm told.

Details at eleven!!
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
But one good thing about the MF is that even if you are not a string breaker, it WILL break after a while (for me between 14 - 18 hours of play usually) and force you to get some fresh strings on the racket before it goes totally dead and you end up hurting yourself trying to make something happen with your arm.
What is stopping you from cutting out strings after a certain number of hours or as soon as you feel any loss of control or tightness/discomfort in your wrist/arm/elbow?
 

pjv

Rookie
What is stopping you from cutting out strings after a certain number of hours or as soon as you feel any loss of control or tightness/discomfort in your wrist/arm/elbow?
Nothing stops me - I nearly always cut out the strings and re-string after 10 - 12 hours of play (as soon as the MF starts moving and not snapping back into place I usually cut and re-string). I was responding to the OP who said his friend will keep playing strings that have long since died.
 
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